Call for Guest Bloggers & Newly Added Speakers From Family Dollar, Sam’s Club, Wendy’s and more

Earn a complimentary All-Access pass to the #1 recognized shopper-focused event in the world by serving as a guest-blogger. As a guest blogger, you’ll have access to the amazing visionaries, authors, academics PLUS retailers, manufacturers, industry authorities and explorers. With four track sessions, cocktails and even an All-Star baseball party – you’ll learn and have a great time and this premier event.

Responsibilities will include attending specifically assigned sessions and blogging live or same day. You must have industry experience within CPG, retail or consulting in those fields. In exchange for guest blogging, you will receive an all-access pass to the event $3,000+ value. Guest bloggers are responsible for their travel and lodging.

Apply today by sending your name, company, biography and links to your blog directly to Conference Director, Amanda Powers (apowers@iirusa.com). Deadline for submissions is Friday, July 2 at 12pm EST. Early submissions encouraged.

Shopper Insights in Action
July 11 -14, 2010
Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile

Learn more: http://bit.ly/SIA_Blog10
Brochure: http://bit.ly/SIA_Brochure10
Register: http://bit.ly/SIA_Reg10

Registration is still open for Shopper Insights in Action. The event is expected to sell-out, but we have a few spaces available. Don’t wait – register today with code SHOPLINK1 and receive 20% off the standard rate.

Two New Panels Added to the Program:

Kraft, Wendy’s and Turtle Wax Incorporate Customer Participation and Transform What it Means to Listen
Panelists:
*Daren Herbert, Director, Consumer Insights, Turtle Wax
*Jan Trent, Manager, Consumer Insights, Wendy’s
* Chris Hjorth, Scale Marketing, Kraft Foods
Moderated by Bill Alberti, Communispace

Common Ground for Shared Retailer & Manufacturer Growth
Panelists:
Cindy Casper, Sr. Director Insights & Research, Sam's Club
Katie Pollock, Divisional VP, Customer & New Growth, Family Dollar
Moderated by John Dranow, SmartRevenue

We hope to see you in Chicago!

Cheers,
CMSI Management
Shopper Insights in Action Event Team

Send Emergen-C to friends via social media

Yep, that's right. Gone are the days of giving virtual gifts on Facebook, now you can actually send your friend a sample pack of Emergen-C from Facebook to their mailbox. Mediapost.com reports that brand manager Megan Seider said, "After all, these days, people use social media for sharing how they feel on a moment-to-moment basis. And since we market Emergen-C as 'the fun way to take your vitamins,' we wanted the approach to be fun."

From a logistical standpoint, Emergen-C is a lightweight product so the company won't lose too much with shipping. Do you think other companies will start using this approach to get their free samples out to the public? Any issues that you see with this tactic?

Emergen-C Uses Social Media For (Real) Sampling

British government works to get more online users

In an effort to get more people, especially older generations, online the British government has set up Race 2012. From their website, Race Online 2012 aims to bring people and organizations together to improve the life chances of the 10 million people who have never been online, particularly the four million who are also socially and economically excluded. Race 2012 aims to get 100% of the British population online by the London Olympics 2012.

The YouTube sensation, The Internet Grandad has taken a special interest in the cause and is helping them with their mission. As an elderly widower living alone in England, he found the internet to be a wonderful tool to share his knowledge and to connect with a new set of people.

As social media professionals, we often look at what can be the next big thing, the biggest moneymaker, etc. What many fail to forget is how powerful social media can be to simply connect with one another and to be social. For so many the idea of being social can be daunting, what social media offers is a path out of loneliness.

What other organizations do you know of who are taking a keen interest in getting older generations to adopt the internet? Would you support an initiative like this in your country?

Social Media's impact on The World Cup

The social media landscape has changed drastically in the last four years. Now with more people joining the fray it's become a global phenomenon that can rival a much older phenomenon, The World Cup. Host of All Tech Considered, Omar Gallaga sat with Michele Norris to discuss how all of The World Cup chatter may stretch the limits of Twitter and Facebook. Listen to the broadcast here.

Below is an excerpt from their discussion:

NORRIS: Now, I wonder what this is doing to productivity in a lot of workplaces. What have the most popular sites done to prepare for this increase in traffic?

GALLAGA: Well, Twitter, in particular, had a lot of problems last week that were unrelated to the World Cup. They might've been kind of gearing up for it. But they warned their users that this kind of spike in traffic is probably going to cause problems. They're probably going to have some outages. Facebook has fared pretty well, but both sides are doing a lot to just get people talking.

Twitter introduced some hashtags, where if you type in World Cup, it will actually put a little soccer or a team flag on there. So they're definitely trying to get people talking. And Facebook is actually allowing people to comment with live video streams. So they're pairing up - kind of Facebook status updates with those live streams.

If you're a fan of The World Cup, have the outages or server errors kept you from discussing the sport?

Small businesses and social media - 5 ways to start now!

Mashable has a great article today on how small businesses can adopt the social media trends from younger generations to help their businesses. One main objection to social media is the lack of time; however, as David Stark points out "...people don’t realize how much time they’re wasting by sticking to the tools of the old guard. Think of how many e-mails you send out on a daily basis. How many phone calls you make. Well, social media can not only cut down on those time-sucks, but also help you connect to a wider group of people on a more personal level. Moreover, it’s a hell of a lot more fun to keep up a fan page complete with FAQs and videos than it is to answer 1,000 e-mails all related to the same issue." Good point.

Here are their top 5 trends to consider with social media:

• Listen to Gossip
• Share Content
• Have an Attitude
• Hang Out
• Play Nice with Others

To learn more about these trends in detail, visit the Mashable article.


5 Teen Social Media Trends that Can Be Applied to Small Business

What other trends do you see that can help small businesses grow?

Yahoo Expands Facebook Integration, Adds Privacy Controls

PCWorld.com, reports that Yahoo has expanded its integration with Facebook to a global audience. The company also unveiled a new "privacy dashboard," dubbed Yahoo Pulse.

"People who use Yahoo and Facebook can now link their accounts to view and share updates with friends across both networks," Yahoo wrote in a blog post. "This means you can see your Facebook News Feed from your Yahoo homepage, Yahoo Mail, and other favorite Yahoo sites and services."

Although this integration is still in its early stage, what benefits do you see for both Facebook and Yahoo? Will users quickly adapt to this exchange?

AP Stylebook adds 42 new guidelines for social media

ROTFL, G2G and POS are officially part of the updated AP Stylebook. CNN and Mashable report that the venerable resource for journalists (and those who just like to be annoyingly correct all the time) has added 42 new guidelines for social media communication. From the article, "among the more interesting changes -- at least from a grammar and style standpoint -- are separating out "smart phone" as two words, hyphenating "e-reader," and allowing fan, friend and follow to be used both as nouns and verbs."

Like to add your suggestions? The AP is taking tips from New Media and Social Media types for 2012. Click here for more information.

Check out the original article here: AP Stylebook adds 42 new guidelines for social media

Disney turns "likes" into purchases on Facebook

The venerable entertainment giant has lead the pack in it's newest initiative to drive sales to the release of their upcoming film, Toy Story 3. The New York Times reports that the application, called Disney Tickets Together, could transform how Hollywood sells movie tickets by combining purchases with the powerful forces of social networking. When you buy a ticket through Disney’s application, for instance, it alerts your Facebook friends and prompts you to invite them to buy tickets of their own.

For now, only Toy Story 3 tickets are available. But Oliver Luckett, senior vice president and general manager of DigiSynd, a Disney subsidiary that manages the entertainment giant’s social networking presence said other Disney movies would follow if the application is deemed a success.

If the application is a success, will we see online movie ticket sellers like Fandango and MovieTickets.com adding more social features to compete?

Learn more: Disney Puts Tickets on a Facebook Site

Social media boosts organ donor recruitment

The Chicago Tribune reports that social media is playing a hand in getting more people to sign-up to be organ donors. Individuals who are in need of a donor have begun to use Facebook to find a match. Though this may have legal ramifications and potential abuse among those working in the black markets for organ donors; overall, the use of social networks has been a helpful tool.

In Michigan, activists have tried to pass stronger laws to encourage more participation in the registry and are now using social networking to spread the word that 2,943 Michigan residents are currently waiting for organs.

To learn more about how social networking is playing a role in recruiting organ donors, we encourage you to check out the article mentioned here.

Social media efforts boost organ donors